Alex

The first 3D printed concrete water chamber has been built and installed in Cheshire, UK. Among other things, the printed water chamber, which is to be installed as part of the local sewage system is designed to reduce the risks associated with working at heights. Read on to know more about this example of “Printfrastructure”, which you can see in the image below. Hugging the tank. (Image credit: Costain/Changemaker3D) The structure which has been installed at the local water authority facility for testing was designed in collaboration with Costain, United Utilities and ChangeMaker3D. The concrete water tank, which will contain wastewater from the sewage system was printed in just four hours, and offered a 25% reduction in carbon, 20% cost saving and 55% reduction in labor versus traditional construction methods. “A 3D printed structure of this kind is ground-breaking within the UK water sector. We work with water and wastewater…    read more 

A team of researchers from Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi has developed a means of 3D printing rugged optical fibers that can be used as temperature sensors. The group has published their findings in the Additive Manufacturing journal. Using polymer resins embedded with color-changing powders, the researchers have been able to produce flexible and tough optical fibers that are vastly more robust than the traditional (brittle) kind that are made of glass. More Robust While industrial sensors made from glass fiber optics are commonplace, they are prone to readout errors due to the harsh environments they are often placed in. “Optical fiber sensors can work in harsh environments as they are immune to electromagnetic interferences and have remote sensing capabilities,” said Dr. Haider Butt, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, at the university. “They show high sensitivity but they do have durability issues and are prone to be affected by small…    read more 

Figure 4 Tough Clear Figure 4 Tough Clear is 3D Systems’ first clear material for its Figure 4 platform designed forlong-term use parts and functional prototypes. Parts produced using Figure 4 Tough Clear possessexcellent clarity that is improved with post-processing. This can be extremely valuable for applications such as fluid and gas flow to observe the inner workings of complex assemblies. It can also enhance light transmission and reflection for lenses, light guides and lighting covers.Additionally, this material delivers a desirable combination of customer-critical performance traitsincluding impact strength, tensile strength, and elongation properties which remain stable up to eight years. Figure 4 Tough Clear is tested to eight years of indoor and one and a half years outdoor mechanicalperformance per ASTM D4329 and ASTM G154 methods, ensuring that printed parts remain functional andstable for long periods in real-world conditions. In addition to lenses, light guides and lighting covers, this material…    read more 

The Geeetech THUNDER Kickstarter campaign has officially started today, and we are going to look at the deal on offer. The THUNDER will come with high printing speed, all-metal body, a super strong cooling system and big printing volume. Read on to learn more about this new speedy FFF desktop printer. THUNDER The Geeetech THUNDER has been in development for two years and is now ready for launch. The printing speed of the Geeetech THUNDER can reach up to 300mm/s, with accelerations of 5000mm/s² for the X-axis and 4000mm/s² for the Y-axis. When compared against the same model and same print quality, these speed gains result in a saving of between 30%-70% in printing time. Overview The THUNDER offers a printing volume of 250 x 250 x 260 mm and comes with 5 different printing modes for different printing needs. In addition, the printer includes a dual drive gear extruder,…    read more